Gender Discrimination

Gender discrimination has been a part of Pakistan since its existence, one of the outstanding reasons behind it is the illiteracy amongst the masses another would be the culture that does not allow women to stand besides men. The world that we live in today is evolving on a day-to-day basis with ground-breaking discoveries being made at frequent intervals. Living standards have touched new heights; entrepreneurs have pushed the boundaries of the business world even further. Despite all these developments, the primitive knowledge that men are superior to women remains embedded in our societal structure. Although, the western societies seem to have overcome the discriminatory practices, there is still a part of the culture that practices it. Gender stereotypes are an influence from the day one is born. One’s gender is the deciding factor of a name, “girls” names versus “boys” names. Also, gender is what parents usually use when deciding what color to paint a nursery, pink for a girl or blue for a boy. Gender determines what toys they will purchase, dolls if they are expecting a girl and trucks for boys. The list goes on and these stereotypes follow us through the years and in a way shape our lives. I can think of several gender stereotypes operating in my personal life at home, at work and in relationships. Pakistan is considered an under developed country in the world and its progress has been slow and steady, the trend of working women in Pakistan has recently grown but this was not always the case as before the turn of the century the percentage of working women was nominal and the concept amongst masses was that a female should stay at home and not go out to work, with women working besides men there is the issue of sexual harassment women at work usually get harnessed because they are the weaker sex of the two and it’s a problem that females have faced all over the world. Often, sexual harassment incidents fall into the category of the “merely annoying.